Technical data

Installing and Configuring an Enterprise Mesh System
© 2012 Meru Networks, Inc. Wireless Backbones With Enterprise Mesh 263
Phase 1: Connect Controller and APs with an Ethernet Switch
1. Connect all APs directly to a controller through a switch or hub.
2. Power on the controller.
3. Connect the APs to a power source using either separate power supplies or Power
over Ethernet (PoE) connections.
4. If the controller does not have an assigned IP address, configure with the
following, otherwise, skip to step 5:
a. Connect a computer to the controller using a serial cable.
b. Using a PC terminal program with the settings 115200 baud, 8 bit, no parity,
access the controller and log in with the default admin/admin
username/password.
c. Use the setup command to assign the controller an IP address.
d. Reboot the controller and log in again as admin.
5. For the APs that will be in the Enterprise mesh, verify they are connected to the
controller (enabled and online) and ensure that APs’ runtime version is the same
version of System Director as the controller:
— Check the System Director version with the command show controller
— Verify the APs and with the command show ap
6. Check that you have installed an Enterprise Mesh license for all APs using the
command show license.
The output should show the WIRELESS entry:
Feature Name CtlrStatus LicenseType Expiry Date TotalCount InUse
controller active permanent - 1 1
ap active permanent - 200 5
WIRELESS_AP active permanent - 10 0
License Table(3)
Phase 2: Configure the APs for Enterprise Mesh
Phase 2 consists of configuring the mesh parameters of the APs while they are wired.
Be sure that the APs are connected as described in Phase 1 and are online.
It is recommended that you attach a paper tag to each AP with its AP ID. Leave space
to add the parent AP ID.
 This example uses a chain configuration, as shown in Figure 37. The chain
configuration uses multiple hops within the wireless mode (which a hub and spoke
configuration does not). In this example, the Enterprise Mesh consists of one
gateway AP150, two wireless AP150s, and one wireless leaf AP150. The first
wireless AP connects to the gateway AP, the second wireless AP connects to the
first wireless AP, and the third wireless AP connects to the second wireless AP.
 If you are configuring a hub and spoke configuration, you will have a gateway
(AP1) and leaf nodes configured as wireless that point to the gateway.